I thought I’d dust off “Tuesday Musings” as it’s been about a month since I last mused, though I think, with all the rain we’ve had so far today, “mud” and not “dust” would more likely be the key word here. It was a treat to sleep in this morning, but my walking took a hit again, and no steps were added to my yearly tally, unless you want to count a few trips from the back of the house to the kitchen.
One of the stories on the news this morning was about animal crackers and how the PETA people succeeded in persuading Nabisco to change the design on the box of Barnum’s Animal Crackers. Now, the animals are displayed as freed, and thus cage-free, rather than traveling in caged boxcars enroute to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, which, as you probably know, closed down a few years ago. Here’s the story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nabisco-barnums-animals-animal-crackers-animals-freed-mondelez-international-boxes-get-new-look/
I pity the kids who will never enjoy the circus as I remember it from my youth, and, I loved those cute little animal crackers as well, in fact, so much that I wrote a post about them a few years ago. I’ll skip sending the link to the post because I rambled on about the ugly and sleety weather we were having in late April. On that morning, I had heard the song “Animal Crackers in my Soup” by the late Shirley Temple. Not only did that song evoke a few memories, but it was an earworm for me all day.
So, if you remember these …
… and, if you’ve ever seen a Shirley Temple movie, you’ll probably enjoy this little song which will give you a smile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cntYIkuthYg
That song took me back to a time of those sweet cookies and a few sweet memories as well.
When I was a toddler, whenever we went grocery shopping, Mom always bought me a box of Barnum’s Animal Crackers. In the store, I’d be holding onto the pale pink string handle that was attached to the oblong red and yellow box that featured circus animals. When we got home and unpacked, and put away the groceries, we’d open the box and pour them out onto a plate, then name all the animal types. Then we’d divide them up and eat them, washed down with a glass of chocolate milk.
Many decades later, one day while grocery shopping, on a lark I bought a box of those same animal crackers, and a carton of chocolate milk. Mom and I did the same thing just like when I was a child, but yes, we skipped the naming of the lions and tigers and bears (oh my!)
It’s good to act like a kid every so often – don’t you think?
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Absolutely Linda. There are parts of childhood that we should embrace. A great post!
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Thanks Ruth – I remember those times with fond memories.
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Good memories!
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Personally I’ve been told I’ve never grown up.
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I’ve heard that here in my corner as well.
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& I refuse to!
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It is what will keep us young – it is good to have the same delight over small things that you had when you were young. It is when we begin to want, want, want and have higher expectations of everything, that nothing can please us any longer.
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well said Linda!
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Well Miss Linda…………………………………I’m just going to have to go myself a NEW box of animal crackers at Meijer tomorrow……………………..I’m so happy that the zoo animals are now freed and not in a cage……………………..Good Gravy……………………and that Shirley Temple song was delightful…………………no I don’t remember it!
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Ann Marie – I know putting a picture of the animal crackers would prompt some people to get some for themselves. Did you have those animal crackers in the box when you were young? That Shirley Temple song was so cute and I bet you were humming it the rest of the evening … when I was young, I remember Shirley Temple movies were on TV on Sunday mornings and I think I saw all of them back in the day. She sure was a cute little girl with those sausage curls.
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I love those animal biscuits- we call them biscuits in our corner of the world. And in my native tongue we called them- aana kuthira biscuits( elephant, horse). Brought back memories of a time past- I still love those biscuits. Recently I got some and tried them but they didn’t have the childhood flavor- perhaps they changed the combination of ingredients or perhaps my palate changed.
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In Canada they call plain cookies biscuits too. My grandmother used to drink tea all the time and she always had tea biscuits around to have with her tea. They were plain biscuits – no frills to them and I remember as a kid I didn’t care for them for that reason – but I loved animal crackers (go figure). When I got the animal crackers later in life, I thought they were softer and had a different texture … I remember remarking on that to my mom. The others ones had more “snap” to them, like gingersnaps. But, maybe like you, my palate changed.
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I agree, the aana kuthira biscuits of my childhood were thinner and crispier perhaps with a snap that was audible. I could eat large numbers of them.
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See it was not my imagination Susie … I remember when I got the box to split with my mom (and we did that several times thereafter), that was the first thing we noticed. We both remarked that maybe they had been in a truck or warehouse and moisture was present so they got soggy, then the others were like that as well. I don’t know why manufacturers have to monkey around with a tried-and-true product sometimes. We have a saying here “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
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Linda, we didn’t have the Barunum biscuits of course. It was someone copying that recipe and making it in their small home bakery. Those days, small bakeries that operated from homes were the norm. There was a small shop in the front and an oven called a “borma” at the back. It was nothing fancy but the tastes that came out of some of those bakeries linger even to this day.
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I believe it Susie – I think mom and pop bakeries or any other kind of businesses are the best. They cater to their customers and their food is not mass produced and they take such pride in what they create.
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You said it all Linda. Interesting one!
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Glad you liked it Sharon – I think it brought back a lot of fun childhood memories for people.
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My husband and I were discussing how silly it was to change the box. I too love them as a child! Thanks for bring back such wonderful “caged” memories…lol
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I thought it was silly too and if they had not drawn our attention to it, how many people would even have noticed? I’m glad I brought back some memories for you Diane … that was a treat every time we went to the grocery store. I learned to count with “Smarties” which are (or were … it was a long time ago) the Canadian version of plain M&Ms. My mother would lay them out, then move them around and add/subtract (gee I hope our fingers were clean) … we also matchsticks but M&Ms were safer.
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What do you mean, it’s been a month?! You’re *always* musin’! 😀 I remember animal crackers from when *I* was a kid, so that’s a lotta decades ago. “Free” of their cages now? Ohh brother… 😀 Well I suppose they have a point, but…
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I used to try to do the “Tuesday Musings” more regularly, not a regular feature like “Friday Follies” but it seems I’ve not had as much to muse over lately. I often do them in Winter or Spring when I am not walking as much because I don’t have fodder for post based on trips to the Park. I loved these little animal cookies and I cannot understand the hullabaloo over changing the box either, and I am an animal lover like yourself.
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